Viewings fallen off, should I change estate agents?

crow22

We've had our house on the market now for almost a year now. After a decent number of viewings right at the beginning they have now fallen off to few and far between. Weeks go by with nothing happening.

The house is a 1930's semi with a massive garden. Our estate agent says its desirable for the garden and being on one of the two most popular older roads out of the town. And it's priced pretty much in line with similar properties in the area. Actually a bit lower than some because although fundamentally in good shape its in need of updating. A bit of a project. We accepted one offer that was close to the asking price but then the buyer withdrew.

We're reluctant to reducing the asking price right at this point as we feel, and others have confirmed this, the price is not unrealistic. However we are not getting the viewings any more. Would changing estate agents actually achieve anything as most people are searching online anyway?

Any thoughts?

ReadySteadyPop

The only person that can confirm if the price is realistic is a buyer, adjusting price is the most powerful selling tool, one agent is much like another really as most people do their research online now and use the various apps that track price drops.

crow22

ReadySteadyPop said:

The only person that can confirm if the price is realistic is a buyer, adjusting price is the most powerful selling tool, one agent is much like another really as most people do their research online now and use the various apps that track price drops.

Yes I'm inclined to agree. The problem now is we need to get viewings!

ReadySteadyPop

crow22 said:

ReadySteadyPop said:

The only person that can confirm if the price is realistic is a buyer, adjusting price is the most powerful selling tool, one agent is much like another really as most people do their research online now and use the various apps that track price drops.

Yes I'm inclined to agree. The problem now is we need to get viewings!

Demand seems to definitely be down but if you undercut other sellers on price you will probably get some viewings.

RavingMad

If you go on Rightmove and filtered by postcode (quarter mile distance) and number of rooms, where does your listing lie comparatively? Top (expensive) or bottom (cheapest) Would you say it's in the right ballpark?

Are the pictures reflective of the asking price?

If it's been a year I would think it's overpriced perhaps?

Bigphil1474

Whilst I would agree price is important, it's not always the main issue. If buyers are interested but they think it's a bit over priced, they'll put a low offer in, they won't just ignore it. That's what we did. We had a budget of up to around £350k last year but we looked at houses up to around £400k, and offered within budget. 

Have you gotten someone with a streak of blunt honesty to take a look at the listing. Maybe get them to do a dummy viewing. It could be the EA is rubbish at answering the phone or isn't flexible on appointments, or it could be the pictures. It could be all sorts. However, unless it's way over priced, it's not just gonna be price IMO. Any chance you could do some of the work you know needs doing to make it more appealing? 

gwynlas

On Rightmove you can view as longest listed, you will be able to see where your property is in comparison with others.
If your house is out of the norm  for your area it might languish for a long time waiting for the right buyer to come along.
If you are happy with the listing and photographs then it is a case of waiting unless you can afford to take a drop in price.
It might be worth checking if you can pay for a remium listing so that the property reaches more viewers.

ButterCheese

Agents are often not the best predictors of what someone will actually pay for the house.  Only the buyer(s) know that.  If you've had no viewings then either there is something in the house/area that's not very inviting (e.g. main road, access, noise etc) or simply that it is on for too high a price.

Our agent said "yours will sell all day for 350,000".  We eventually had to drop it to 310,000 and we only had 1 viewing which luckily they made an offer for 300,000 and we accepted.  Once the agents have done the work with pictures, advertising it online, they aren't losing out by waiting for "full price", but are reluctant to reduce it because they get a smaller payout when it sells

Dustyevsky

ButterCheese said:

Once the agents have done the work with pictures, advertising it online, they aren't losing out by waiting for "full price", but are reluctant to reduce it because they get a smaller payout when it sells

I disagree. A proactive agent won't want stale property sitting on their books for ages. Some people notice!  We have a local agent near us who prices high to get custom, and then reduces slowly. Clued-up people, including me, wouldn't use her.

The difference in what the agent receives from a somewhat overpriced sale and a more realistic price is marginal, and that's assuming someone buys above market. How many actually do that? Someone might to get the 'massive' garden in this case, but for many, an abnormally large non-developable plot, needing upkeep , is a potential turn-off.

ReadySteadyPop

Dustyevsky said:

ButterCheese said:

Once the agents have done the work with pictures, advertising it online, they aren't losing out by waiting for "full price", but are reluctant to reduce it because they get a smaller payout when it sells

I disagree. A proactive agent won't want stale property sitting on their books for ages. Some people notice!  We have a local agent near us who prices high to get custom, and then reduces slowly. Clued-up people, including me, wouldn't use her.

The difference in what the agent receives from a somewhat overpriced sale and a more realistic price is marginal, and that's assuming someone buys above market. How many actually do that? Someone might to get the 'massive' garden in this case, but for many, an abnormally large non-developable plot, needing upkeep , is a potential turn-off.

Very few I would guess.

Uriziel

I don't think people care too much about estate agents so changing them probably would not make much of a difference. People go online to view properties and that's about it. Do you think another agent will start cold calling? It sounds to me as if you simply want the price that you have decided on. If you are not willing to decrease the price to get a sale you will just have to sit on it and wait. There is nothing else you can do. I also do not think that a garden is much of a selling point. People want to live in the actual house and not in the garden. If the house is crappy why would anyone spend a fortune just to have a nice garden? It sounds like the price is quite high. People who have a lot of money to spend want a good house and not just a big garden and can afford it. It sounds like you are asking too much for the property and tell yourself that it's fine because there is a big garden to go with it. You also write that it is in line with the rest of the houses. If your agent said your garden justifies the price it means that the property actually is not worth the price at all and you are just hoping for someone to really want the garden. I would decrease the price and get it over and done with instead of endlessly waiting hoping for a rich man to come along and make your year. Accept that there is supply and demand and there does not seem to be much demand for your property irrelevant of how you feel about the price.